The final daily post is to say a heartfelt thanks to my family for allowing me to go on this adventure. By the time I get back to Hong Kong I will have been away from our new home for nearly 2 months – looking forward to getting home!

The final event of the rally as we all gather at the very grand Intercontinental Paris Le Grand for the gala dinner. Amazingly there is both a slick photo recap of the whole event and a cool video – how these were edited in such short order I am not sure. After dinner there are the presentations and we get to go up on stage twice, for our silver medal and then for the class award.

The turnout is impressive, as expected, and the event spills out of the main room into an adjoining space. Sadly though this means that there is not that much chance to say goodbye to many of our fellow competitors.

The last day has been a bit of a rush and it’s hard to think that it is now over and we have to get back to real life!

I will be heading back with Laura and the kids to the UK to see family and, I am told, that we are driving down to Cornwall for a week!.. Fortunately this is not in the Jag.

We leave the cars for the night in Place Vendome and this will be the last I see of the Jag for quite a while. Cars UK will come in the morning and pick it up to be shipped back to RPS for a report on just what terminal damage we have inflicted on this ‘one careful owner, never raced or rallied’ car.

Both Jake & Gemma have volunteered for future P2Ps but as they are 12 and 9 there are a few years to go.

Much as it was a huge adventure and I am very privileged to have been able to take part I am not sure I would sign up for 2019 – not sure I have been turned into a serial long distance rallyer. If Jake was keen to do it in 2022 and we can afford it! then that is a possibility -and then Laura and Gemma in 2025??

Shorter rallies would be fun but 36 days is too long. Some commented that the experience would be a great one in retrospect and would form the basis for dinner party conversations for some time to come – that is until you were no longer invited to dinner parties, being the boring old s** who won’t stop talking about driving across bloody Mongolia!